A New Allergy

Yesterday, I wrote about Neural Therapy. I had a big reaction to having tiny, diluted amounts of procaine (aka novocain) injected subdermally. Initially, we thought I was having a strong reaction to the treatment. Today, my doctor and I realized that I’m allergic to procaine.

How did we figure this out?

Well, I woke up this morning still feeling like I couldn’t breathe, like there was a huge weight crushing my chest and like my air passages were constricted. Mind you, I was breathing. Just slowly and with effort. I got winded while walking from the kitchen to the bathroom.

I spoke to my doctor shortly after I got up. He gave me a suggestion (that I’ll use again in the future) about stimulating my body to remove the toxins in my blood stream. I tried it. I had a few seconds where I wanted it to work so I convinced myself I was improving. Then I got out of my chair and was winded after a few steps. My respiratory symptoms didn’t respond to detoxing. That was the first clue.

I went to see my acupuncturist today for a previously scheduled appointment. When I described my symptoms to her as well as my immediate reaction to the shots, she said, “allergy.” She also told me that if an allergic reaction gets interrupted right away, the symptoms disappear rapidly. But if you wait 24 hours, then you have to let it work its way out of your system. I thought on that, but I wasn’t sure. The detox reaction I have to Babesia is similar to what I experienced yesterday, only it doesn’t last so long and it responds to magnesium, which this didn’t.

So my acupuncturist is doing a treatment. I was very sensitive. Every needle hurt going in. This used to happen all the time, but for the past 8-10 months, I’ve tolerated the treatments better. But then something interesting happened. I had histamine reactions at almost every needle site. Redness, inflammation, heat, itching. Some were just as inflamed after the needle was out. It was odd, to say the least. So my acupuncturist surmised that I had a lot of histamine floating around in my blood to generate that type of reaction. That was the second clue.

On the way home, my mom and I got to talking. It seems my dad is allergic to novocain. (Helen, take note!) I didn’t know that. His dentist had used it on him more than once, then one day, he had a reaction. No more novocain since the reaction. Meanwhile, I haven’t had dental work that required novocain since I was 18 years old. That’s long before all my physical problems, especially the immune problems, started. So I had no idea that I might be allergic to procaine. We called my dad who said his blood pressure dropped precipitously the last time he had novocain. He felt woozy and got very pale. His dentist gave him something (probably an antihistamine) and he felt better after 20 minutes. Not dissimilar from my experience yesterday (only I didn’t interrupt the reaction). The third clue.

So with these 3 clues, I went out and purchased benedryl (actually, the drug store brand equivalent). I took 2 because I was in such distress over the breathing thing. After about 30 minutes, my breathing got somewhat easier. In that time, I looked up procaine and read a description of the adverse reactions, including the allergic reaction. I was pretty sure after reading about it that I had one. In any case, the benedryl put me into a very sleepy state for several hours. The phone woke me up several times. I was drowsy but I could breathe more easily. When the benedryl wore off, I was more awake and my breathing was challenging again. That was the fourth clue.

Tonight, I’m doing a little better. I still get winded when I walk. My breathing still feels strained. But I can tell it is not as bad as before. I’m lucky that it never got too bad. Even though it required a lot of effort at the worst moments, I could still talk, laugh, yawn and inhale.

I don’t regret trying the treatment. Neural Therapy might have been able to move me to the next level. Instead, I got very useful information in a not too terrible way. At least the procaine was dilute, there wasn’t much of it, and the shots were not in my mouth. Getting this information during a dental procedure would have been more traumatic.

P.S. For the record, I’ve decided that Neural Therapy sounds like the Vulcan Neural Pressure techniques pictured in season 3 of Star Trek Enterprise.

Coiling

I’m taking a break today. My body is not up for even a mini herx.

Detox

I tried baking soda in water. I can’t tell if helped with the detox, although that was its purpose.

Today I started two homeopathic remedies: Hepar and Solidago. The first is for liver support, the latter for urinary tract support. I’m hoping that in a few days the urinary hesitation will be gone.

homeopathic support

baking soda in water

juiced greens

skin brushing

BioMat

nap

benedryl

castor oil pack on abdomen

Body

I slept deeply last night with no interruptions. I didn’t sleep long, maybe 7 hours, but definitely straight through the night.

My main issue today was breathing. I’m not sure if I had any other symptoms this morning or afternoon. Difficulty breathing really prevents me from paying attention to anything else on my body.

Still, I can say that my left shoulder popped a bunch. I had urinary hesitation. I have a headache tonight with light sensitivity. Since 10pm, I’ve had a lump in my throat. And my fingers hurt.

As my doctor directed, I’ll be taking more benedryl before bed. I’m sure I’d sleep without it, but I’ll breathe more easily.